"The most dangerous books aren't the ones with secrets—
but the ones that read you back."
Shirogane Public Library – Restricted Archives, 4:03 AM
The storm hadn't stopped. Rain painted the city in layers of static. But deep beneath the library—three floors below public access—a sealed door buzzed quietly.
Then it clicked.
A figure in a raincoat stepped in. Not a thief.
A reader.
Their fingers hovered over a glass case holding five blackened books, each wrapped in spiritual chains.
The label read:
BANNED SECTION – DO NOT UNSEAL
Subject: Living Manuscripts
The figure whispered:
"It's time you told me everything... Hiragi."
Then they opened Book III.
Blood flowed from the spine like tears.
Detective Office – 4:08 AM
Suguru: still upside down.
Airi: passed out next to Reina.
Ishigami: reading silently.
Hiragi: staring at the jar containing the red thread from Reina's dream.
"We killed the Librarian," Airi mumbled.
"We silenced a fragment of it," Ishigami corrected. "The full entity is older than recorded time. It existed even in proto-script runes."
"Which means…" Hiragi stood, grabbing his coat.
"It's not over," he said. "Someone's still feeding it stories."
A New Threat Emerges
The alarm at the library triggered a weak ping on Ishigami's encrypted tracker. Only three users in Tokyo had ever accessed the Banned Section.
Two were dead.
The third…
"Name: Miyuki Tachibana," Ishigami said. "Disappeared 3 years ago. Declared mentally unstable after publishing a cursed poetry book."
"Now she's back," Hiragi muttered. "And she's reading from the wrong shelves."
Flash Cut – Miyuki's Apartment
Candles circled the open Living Manuscript. Pages fluttered on their own, forming sigils mid-air.
Miyuki's lips bled as she spoke the forbidden verse:
"What bleeds once shall bleed again."
"What was written shall be rewritten."
Her shadow elongated unnaturally. Eyes formed in the walls. One of the pages turned itself—and the name "Hiragi" appeared across it in dripping red calligraphy.
Meanwhile…
A post-it note appeared on the office door. A message.
No sender. No footsteps. Just six words written in black:
"THE VOID REMEMBERS ITS CHILDREN."
Hiragi crushed the note in his fist.
"Arc 2's true villain just entered the stage," he whispered.
To Be Continued…